Cloth-holding device for buttonhole attachments



April 10, 1951 C. G. BAEHR CLOTH-HOLDING DEVICE FOR BUTTONHOLE ATTACHMENTS Filed Dec. 13, 1949 Gttornegs 4will be moved upwardly from the Patented pr. 10, 1951 CLOTH-HOLDING DE HOLE ATT VICE FOR BUTTON- ACHMENTS Carl G. Baehr, West Haven, Conn., assignor to The Greist Manufacturing Company, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application December 13, 1949, Serial No. 132,735

This invention relates to sewing-machine attachments and more particularly to a clothholding device for certain of such attachments, or a means to prevent the cloth being pulled upwardly by the needle when it is withdrawn from the cloth, or other material being sewed, upon the upward movement of the needle bar.

As illustrated the invention is applied to a buttonhole attachment designed to be attached to the usual household sewing machine after removal of the usual presser foot, the attachment being secured to the usual presser bar. AIn the use of certain of these attachments, such for example as a device for stitching buttonholes, where the feeding foot must be provided with a relatively large slot through which the needle operates, difficulty is sometimes encountered `in that the cloth which is being sewed will tend :to blouse or be drawn upwardly with the upward movement of the needle. Y This is due to the fact that the edges of the slot in the feeding foot do not lie closely adjacent the needle and, therefore, cannot hold the cloth downwardly upon the machine bed at points close to the needle.

vIt is contemplated 'by the present invention to provide a movable cloth-holding member which -will be carried by the attachment and which is provided. with a holding foot or end portion lying relatively close to the needle. This member in the present instance is actuated by the usual ratchet wheel, which wheel is in turn actuated by the fork arm so that during the upward movement of the fork arm, which is they movelment effecting the feed of the material, the forward or operating end of the holding member material and will be held out of engagement with the material during the feeding operation. At the end of this operation, the holding foot will be released and will be moved downwardly against the cloth or material so as to hold the latter during the stitching operation and prevent the lifting of the cloth by the needle so that the latter will be loosened from the material andvnot draw it upwardly and cause it to blouse.

y' Thus, the cloth will be held down against thel bed of the machine when this is desired, but will be released during the feeding movement of the material so that there will be no interference with the feeding movement. As the hold-down j device is actuated by the ratchet wheel which is 'xed on the shaft of the main cam wheel, it will be synchronized in its movement with that of the. cam..wheel so as .normal sewing operations.

not to interfere with the 7 Claims. (Cl. 112-77) One object of the present invention is to prolvide a cloth-holding device for a sewing-machine attachment such as a buttonhole attachment.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cloth-holding device for a buttonhole or similar sewing-machine attachment which will engage the cloth being sewed and hold the same against blousing as the needle is drawn therefrom, but at the same time will release the cloth for proper feeding movements thereof.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a cloth-holding device. as described above, which device comprises a lever located below the ratchet wheel which is actuated by the fork arm so that the holding lever may be actuated from this ratchet wheel.

To these and other ends the invention consists in the novel features and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

' In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a buttonhole attachment having my cloth-holding device applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view; f

Fig. 3 is a sectional View on line 3 3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is an elevational viewvof the forward portion of the device similar to Fig. 1- but showing the parts in another position; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of thehold-down lever.

As illustrated in the drawings, the buttonhole attachment comprises a. frame IU having a base plate II upon the under side of which is mounted a feed blade I The feed blade is pivoted to the plate by the pivot pin I3, which pin is slidable in the slot I4 in the plate I I so as toadjust the position of the pivot pin and thereby adjust the lateral throw of the forward portion of the feed blade. The Divot Din I3 may be adjusted in the slot I4 by means of the adjusting arm I5 attached to the pivot pin at its forward end and provided adjacent its rear end with a plurality of teeth I6 designed to be engaged with the flanged edge I1 of a housing member I8 mounted upon the frame.

Secured to the feed blade I2 is an endless rack member 20, the teeth of which are engaged by those of a pinion 2| mounted upon a shaft 22, which shaft is rotatably mounted in a housing v23 carried by an actuating lever 24 pivoted at 25 'ally and at the same sizioni provided with a flat spring member 28 which engages the lower side ofthe rack member 20.

The lever 24 oscillates in a substantially horizontal plane about the pivot pin 25 and at the forward end of this lever is provided a pin or roller 30 which acts as a cam follower and isy disposed in the ca` track`3| of al cam wheel 32, this cam wheel being secured to a shaft 33 rotatably mounted in members 34 which may be formed lintegrally with a plate 35 riveted or otherwise secured toI the base plate Also secured to the members 34 is an adapter 36 by which the 'device may be secured to the presser bar of a sewing machine after the presser foot has been removed.

It will be obvious from the above arrangement that when the cam wheel 32 is rotated, the lever 24 will be oscillated as will also the pinion 2| carried thereby, and the engagement of this pinion with the teeth,A of the rack will effect oscillation of the feed blade and thereby effect lateral movements of the work due to the fact that a feeding foot 31 is carried at the forward end of the feed blade |2j. As shown in Fig. 2, this feeding foot is provided with a relatively large oblong opening 3,8 through which the needle is designed to operate and this foot. may be roughened as shown at 39 on its lower face so as to properly engage and move the material which is being sewed.

Secured to the shaft 33 is a ratchet wheel 4|), the teeth of which are engaged by a pawl 4| pivoted at 42 to a fork arm 43Y loosely mounted upon the shaft 33, this pawl being urged into engagement with the ratchet wheel by the spring 44. The fork arm 43 is provided with a bifurcated end 45 designed to be engaged with the needle bar of the sewing machine so that the arm 43 will be reciprocated upon reciprocation of the needle bar. This will effect vstep-by-step rotation of the ratchet wheel 4|'|,V and therefore, of the shaft 33, and of the cam wheel 32 secured to this shaft. As has already been described, rotation of the cam wheel will effect lateral oscillation of the lever 24 and lateral feeding movements of the work. f Y

Secured to the shaft V22 is a ratchet wheel 41, the teeth of which are adapted tointermittently engage a resilient pawl 48 iixed to the frame upon oscillation of the lever 24. The engagement of thev teeth of the ratchet 4,1 by the pawljljduring lateral movements of the lever i244 will effect stepbyfstep rotation of the shaft 22 and, therefore. of the pinion 2| carried thereby. This step-bystep rotation of the pinion 2 by its engagement with the teeth of the rack 20, causes longitudinal movements of thel feed blade I2 to which the rack is secured, vso as to eiect longitudinal movements of the cloth for proper oblong 'stitching around the buttonhole. y

The operation of the partsfabove described is substantially like that of the device Vshown in the Almquist Patent No. 2,482,607, granted Sep- `tember 20, 1949, so that no further description thereof is believed to be necessary. It will be apparent, however, that upon oscillation of the fork arm 43 by the needle bar of the sewing machine the mechanism will cause the material engaged by the feeding foot 31 to be moved'latertime feed longitudinally so that it will travel in a generally oblong path and effect a line of zig-zag stitches at each side of the buttonhole.

' "As illustrated, 'theholdedown lever- '5| is` pivoted at 52 upon a bracket 53 secured to the base spaced upstanding frame ratchet wheel so that at plate |I. This hold-down lever has at its forward end an inwardly and forwardly extending portion 54 which terminates in a downwardly projecting foot 55 adapted to engage the material being sewed. This foot 55 extends within the elongated slot 38 of the. feeding foot, as shown particularly in Figs. 2 and 4, so that it engages the cloth closely adjacent the needle.

The lever 5| is provided with an inwardly olfset rearwardly projecting end 56 to which is secured one end of va spring 51, and the other end of this spring is secured to an arm 58 formed integrally with one of the upstanding frame members 34. It will be apparent that the spring 51 acts in such a manner as to urge the rear end of the hold-downv lever 5| upwardly and the downwardly 'projecting cloth-engaging foot 55 downwardly against the cloth.

Rearwardly of its pivot 52, the hold-down lever 5|- is provided with a tooth or cam portion 6.3 adapted to ,bev engaged by the teeth 'of the ratchet wheel 49 so. that as the teeth ride over the surface of 'the tooth G5 the rear end of the lever 5| will be depressedl against the tension of the. spring 51 and raise the foot 55 out of engagement with the, cloth. v

In Fig. 4 of the drawings the fork arm 43 is shown in approximately its lowermost position, and it will be seen that a tooth of the ratchet wheel 40 has just released or passed over the high point of the tooth or cam 60 so as to permit the spring 51 to move the holding foot 55 downwardly as shown in this figure so that it will engage the material. As the fork arm moves upwardly from this position, the succeeding tooth on the ratchet wheel 40 will engage the cam surface of the tooth BEI and cause the holding foot 55 to be raised slowly from its lowermost position. The needle will be withdrawn quickly from the cloth while the latter is held by the foot so that it will not follow ther needle upwardly.

AsV the fork arm continues upwardly to the position shown in Fig. 1, the high point of one of the teeth of the ratchet wheel 40 will come into engagement with the high point of the tooth 60 on the lever 5| and hold the holding foot 55 in its uppermost or highest position. During this Yupward travel of the fork arm, at which/time the feeding movement is imparted to the cloth, the latter will be free from engagement with the holdingfoot and will be properly fed 'forwardly vand laterally. Thev fork arm will travel upwardly slightly beyond the position shown in Fig.` l so that the cam 60A on the hold-down lever will be released by the high Vpoint of the tooth on Vthe the end of the upward lstroke of the fork arm, the lever 5|v will be released by the ratchet wheel vand moved downwardly by the spring 51. The hold-down lever, of course, remains in this downward position during the down stroke of the fork arm to 'the position shown in Fig. 4. .v

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a sewing-machine attachment a frame, a shaft rotatably mounted on the frame, a, cam wheel secured to the shaft, a ratchet wheel secured to the shaft, means for effecting step-,bystep rotation of said ratchet-,.wheel, a lever piv'ot'ed to the frame and having a downwardly-extend-y ing cloth-engaging foot adjacent its forward end, and means on said lever engaged by the teeth of the ratchet wheel to effect actuation of the lever in onedirection.

2. In a sewing-machine attachment a frame, a shaft rotatably mounted on the frame, a cam wheel secured to the shaft, a ratchet wheel secured to the shaft, means for effecting step-by step rotation of said ratchet wheel, a lever pivoted to the frame and having a downwardly-extending cloth-engaging foot adjacent its forward end, and means on said lever engaged by the teeth of the ratchet wheel to eieot actuation of the lever in a direction to raise the foot about the pivot of the lever.

3. In a sewing-machine attachment a frame, a shaft rotatably mounted on the frame, a cam wheel secured to the shaft, a ratchet wheel secured to the shaft, means for effecting step-bystep rotation of saidratchet wheel, a lever pivoted to the frame and having a downwardly-extending cloth-engaging foot adjacent its forward end, means on said lever engaged by the teeth of the ratchet wheel to eitect actuation of the lever in a direction to raise the foot about the pivot of the lever, and a spring acting between the frame and lever to urge said foot downwardly.

4. In a sewing-machine attachment a frame, a shaft rotatably mounted on the frame, a cam wheel secured to the shaft, a ratchet wheel secured to the shaft, means for effecting step-bystep rotation of said ratchet wheel, a lever pivoted to the frame intermediate its ends and having a downwardly-extending cloth-engaging foot at its forward end, and a projection on said lever rearwardly of its pivot adapted for engagement by the teeth of the ratchet wheel whereby said lever is actuated in a direction to raise said foot.

5. In a sewing-machine attachment a frame, a ratchet wheel rotatably mounted thereon, a fork arm pivoted on the frame and engaged with said ratchet wheel to eiect step-by-step rotation of the latter upon oscillation'of the fork arm, and a lever pivoted to the frame inter mediate its ends and having a downwardlyextending cloth-engaging foot forwardly of its pivot, Said lever having a portion rearwardly of its pivot disposed adjacent to and in the plane of said ratchet wheel and adapted to be engaged thereby to effect movement of the lever in one direction upon rotation of the ratchet wheel.

6. In a sewing-machine attachment a frame. a ratchet wheel rotatably mounted thereon, a fork arm pivoted on the frame and engaged with said ratchet wheel to effect step-by-step rotation of the' latter upon oscillation of the fork arm, a lever pivoted to the intermediate its ends and havin-g a downwardly-extending cloth-engaging foot forwardly of its pivot, said lever having a portion rearwardly of its pivot disposed adjacent to and in the plane of said ratchet wheel and adapted to be engaged thereby to effect movement of the lever in one direction upon rotation of the ratchet wheel, and spring means connected to the lever to urge it in the opposite direction.

7, In a sewing-machine attachment a frame, a ratchet wheel rotatably mounted thereon, a fork arm pivoted. on the frame and engaged with said ratchet wheel to effect step-by-step rotation of the latter upon oscillation of the fork arm, and a lever pivoted to the frame intermediate its ends and having a downwardly-extending cloth-engaging foot forwardly of its pivot, said lever having a cam projection thereon rearwardly of its pivot, said projection being disposed in the pia-ne of the ratchet wheel and adapted to be engaged by the teeth thereof to actuate said le ver and move said foot upwardly.

CARL G. BAEHR.

No references cited. 

